The only problem with Michigan’s controversial emergency financial manager law is that it cannot be applied to the budgeting/spending dysfunction of the federal government.

The law -- in the news across the state last week with pending takeovers in the city of Detroit (where it was being resisted) and Muskegon Heights schools (where it was requested by the school board months ago) and a second go-round of state-enforced fiscal responsibility in Flint -- would make a positive difference in Washington, D.C.

It would be no problem if the two political parties couldn’t work things out to balance the U.S. budget and live within our nation’s means.

We’d just appoint a qualified, common-sense administrator with sweeping powers and no ax to grind to get the job done, and I bet we wouldn’t be spending more than we take in before too long.

I say this with my tongue only partially in my cheek.

Of course, the emergency financial manager law does not apply to Congress and the president, and it never will. Too bad.

Gov. Rick Snyder has taken uncalled for grief because of the temporary state takeover of local governments and school districts that were failing their taxpayers and were clearly unable to change course to fix their crippling financial problems.

The state is actually helping these governments and their residents, not hurting them.

But I’m not surprised by the protests that claim the emergency financial manager law has robbed these communities of their democracy and right to self-government. Or, even more irresponsibly, that the law is a form of state racism because the entities taken over have often been in majority black parts of Michigan.

It is truly a wonderful country we live in when you can make such outrageous claims that defy even the slightest bit of introspection and logic.

Regardless of the race of the majority of residents in the affected communities, if their government units were in good financial shape, which admittedly requires careful and constant management in these challenging times, the law would never have been implemented.

The law’s critics who cry racism are right about one thing at least.

The emergency financial manager law, which had been on the books in a different form for years before Snyder and the Legislature put more teeth into it last year, is not colorblind.

It sees red ink and works to get rid of it as soon as possible.

I suspect most residents appreciate that, because their elected officials were not getting the job done. Fiscal mismanagement or neglect is harmful to a community and can even be fatal if left unchecked.

As to the black and white issue, that’s just a smokescreen that allows politics to be played.

How do I know this?

I lived through the first state takeover of Flint in the early 2000s as editor of The Flint Journal and saw how a less powerful emergency financial manager (not equipped with Snyder’s additional clout) was able to right the ship and chop away at a multi-million dollar deficit.

We heard the same hollow charges of racism that are echoing today.

But residents got their elected government back after things were stabilized financially. Sadly, the next batch of elected leaders apparently fell back on the old habits and Flint is again being run by an emergency financial manager (depending on how the legal challenge of the day is resolved).

I happen to know both of the gentlemen who were selected by the state to bail out Flint and they were perfectly qualified for the task. They weren’t there because they sought power (the usual motivation of the elected officials), but rather because they loved their city and wanted it to survive the immediate crisis and then thrive.

Neither were outsiders unfamiliar with Flint. Both were part of the community for a long time.

The current manager will leave a stronger city when his difficult work is done.

Opponents of the emergency financial manager law, many of whom are affiliated with labor unions worried about managers canceling local labor agreements in order to reduce expenses to cope with declines in revenue, want state voters to void the law. If the state certifies they’ve gathered enough valid signatures to force a vote in November (we’ll find out later this month), the law will be suspended until then.

That gives me a sinking feeling about what will happen to these struggling communities in the meantime if state help is withheld.